With Les Miles, LSU Is Spending More on Recruiting and Getting Less

In a very interesting newspaper article sent to me by Franklin Crittenden, the Mobile Press Register put out the following list of SEC schools and the expenditures they incurred recruiting players for the last football class.

Here is that list. The number in parenthesis indicates the Rivals ranking for that class.

2007-08
Tennessee: $1,081,250 (35) 
LSU: $776,029 (11)
Auburn: $737,380 (20)
Georgia: $523,056 (7) 
Florida: $506,673 (3) 
Arkansas: $494,181 (36)
Ole Miss: $405,654 (29) 
Alabama: $360,327 (1)
Kentucky: $312,056 (57)
S. Carolina: $289,639 (22)
Miss. State: $272,872 (44)
Vanderbilt: N/A (90)

Lane Kiffin certainly got little bang for buck, but since Tennessee is certainly no hotbed for talent, national recruiting has always been a main priority for the Vols. They have spent well over a million dollars for each of the last three years.

Then there's LSU, in the middle of a hotbed of talent, yet they still spent more than twice as much as Alabama with much less results. At the current rate, they would have to spend over seven million dollars to come up with the same class Alabama did with just 360,327 dollars.

Miles used to hang his hat on recruiting right up with the big boys, but now, not only is his team's rankings falling, but the recruiting classes are too. All while spending the second highest expenditures for a class outside the top ten.

This while Miles is also one of the highest paid coaches in American as well.

Certainly it seems like LSU is paying more, but only getting Les.

With a shaky quarterback situation and other problems in Baton Rouge, how long until the fans demand their money's worth from a man who has been on a downhill slide since the last of the Saban players left the program.

What does it say that Alabama consistently spends less than half of what LSU does and still triples or more the end result? Do the recruits see Miles as captaining a sinking ship? Is it the message or the messenger?

To be fair, Auburn spent almost as much for about half the end results of LSU, but Gene Chizik was still a mystery to most recruits while Miles was supposed to be a BCS Championship coach.

It seems that everywhere you look you have more reasons to question Miles ability than than you do in being assured of his greatness.

The only question remaining is how much good will did he earn with his single crystal football? Could one more bad season finally convince the Tigers to pull the plug on Miles? 

With no real standouts waiting in line to solve the quarterback problems and all the other glaring problems, it would seem a good time to cut their losses and start over.

According to the same newspaper, who lists three years worth of recruiting, LSU went from forth best recruiting class in 2006-2007 to eleventh in 2007-2008. Clearly it's not just the wins LSU is losing.

If you don't think Saban is at least twice as good as Miles, simply ask yourself how Saban can attract a No. 1 class with less than half the money as Miles No. 11 class. Actually I guess that makes Saban ten times better than Miles.

Miles record as a head coach at LSU with Saban coached players were two 11 win seasons and one 12 win season. Miles record without Saban players were an eight win season and a nine win season.

Yet fans still bristle at the thought of other fans saying that Miles could only win with the program and players Saban left behind, but the numbers sure back the argument. Unlike Georgia, this is not a school that will be happy be pleased with 8 and nine win seasons much longer.

For LSU fans, the notion that Miles is a great coach keeps getting harder and harder to make. Many have already given up. The Mile's bandwagon has a flat tire and a dead horse pulling it.

The only question remaining is how long until it stinks so bad that everyone jumps off?

The article that shows the entire SEC expenditures on all major sports is at:

http://blog.al.com/bamabeat/2009/07/what_does_each_sec_school_spen.html